


The Drums of War

by TheAutotheist



Series: A Girl, A Guy, and the Never-Ending War [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Captain America: Civil War, F/M, Female Steve Rogers, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Movie Release
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-07 17:39:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4272129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAutotheist/pseuds/TheAutotheist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a civil war. Captain America vs. Iron Man. But Steph Rogers can't spend all her time fighting. She has to take a break from the war to check on the most important person in her life.</p>
<p>Written way before the movie, so obviously it probably won't sync up with what the MCU actually does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Drums of War

**Author's Note:**

> I debated with myself endlessly about whether or not to just make this a [Deleted Scene](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1591949/chapters/3384524) or its own story. I kind of want to keep the Deleted Scenes to more in-cannon stuff. And since Civil War hasn't come out yet, and I don't know how the MCU is going to do it, this gets to be its own story for now. 
> 
> This is based heavily on the Captain America comics that take place during Civil War (particularly Cap #23), but you don't need to have read them. I've given it a bit of an MCU twist, and stuck it in my Female!Steve series. This references the events of the first two fics in this series, so you probably need to read those for this to make sense.

Stupid. This whole thing was so stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. And she had been stupid for letting things escalate in the way they had. Steph effortlessly jumped from one rooftop to another in the dark Brooklyn night. The light of the city cast her into a silhouette. She had tripled checked she wasn’t being followed, but she still doubled-back on herself several times, just in case.

Her body was on autopilot, however. While she let muscle-memory control her movement, her mind was a million miles away. The truth was she didn’t know what to do. Sure, she knew the registration act was wrong. Deep in her bones, she knew it was wrong. And she knew there was no easy resolution for her and Tony. Tony and his infuriating lies and secrets. That was what had caused all this. And it would get much, much worse before it got better. She had no idea how this was going to play out. So she had to focus on the civil war that had somehow happened, pitting Captain America against Iron Man. Once again, the bad guy wasn’t clear. For someone who was supposed to be morally good and pure, she seemed to be living in shades of grey these days.

Steph paused in the shadows on the rooftop directly across from her destination. While the civil war, and the registration act, and _everything_ that went along with it occupied most of her time and energy, she still worried for Bucky. Due to recent events, it had been weeks since she’d seen him. He was smart enough to go underground after the whole thing started, however. So Steph was fairly confident Tony hadn’t gotten his hands on Bucky either. There was no way he’d keep that quiet, not when he knew what Bucky meant to her.

Months and months ago, they’d established a dead drop just in case something happened and they couldn’t communicate in the traditional ways. Back when they’d set that up, Steph had thought Bucky would be the one on the run. But now their positions were reversed. So she’d left him a message and checked back in every few days to see if it had been taken. It had felt like her heart had leapt up into her throat when she discovered a new message. They agreed to meet on this roof. Because it had been the roof of her building in the forties, before the war. The building was completely different, but it was in the same spot. It was maybe dumb to pick something sentimental like that, because Tony knew her history and had background information on both of them. So she took a moment to make sure there really wasn’t any surveillance around the place.

She quietly leapt down to the rooftop and landed on her toes. As soon as she did, Bucky appeared from the shadows from where he had been hiding, waiting for her. Steph hadn’t really thought about what she would do when she saw him again. She had wanted to say something, though. Instead, she dropped the shield off her arm and let it fall to the rooftop. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close to kiss him. He held her waist tightly as he kissed her back with just as much passion.

When they pulled back, he moved his hand to her face. “Steph…” he said quietly.

“I missed you,” she said. “I’ve wanted to see you so much. You don’t know.”

“I know,” he said.

She sighed and pulled herself away from him so she could retrieve her shield. “We shouldn’t stay out in the open.”

“I’ve got a safe room nearby.”

Steph nodded and followed him off the roof. Her mind was still on the civil war, though. How could it not be? Even with a respite, this thing was her life now. They snuck through the window of what appeared to be an abandoned motel, but was fine on the inside. Steph had to imagine Bucky had several safe houses around the city, though she’d never seen them before. She’d never needed to.

He turned to face her. “Steph…”

“No,” she said quickly and moved close to him again. This time she carefully set her shield on a dresser and reached out to immediately start removing his uniform as she drew him into another kiss. “Can we just talk later? Please?” She kissed the side of his face as her hands moved. “Talking is not what I want to do now.”

“Okay.” He pulled her close and went to work on her uniform as well. True to his word, they didn’t talk anymore. Not for a little while.

 

Steph stood looking down at her shield as it lay where she had left it on the dresser. She had only gotten halfway dressed again, and stood there with her pants pulled up, but undone, and her bra on. Her uniform top sat on the dresser next to her shield. She knew she needed to get her clothes on and _go_. But she couldn’t bring herself to just yet. She rested her hands on either side of her shield and lowered her head.

“I’m worried about you,” Bucky said from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see him looking out the window. His position wasn’t casual; he was checking no one was approaching their location. He had made further progress than she had in terms of getting dressed. He at least had his undershirt on, and he held the outer layer of his uniform in his hand. The fact that he had been wearing his Winter Soldier uniform at all for their meetup told her volumes.

He turned back to look at her and the moonlight caught his metal arm, making it gleam. Tony had been doing regular maintenance on it since he’d put it on ages ago. It must have been at least a year now. But she couldn’t imagine Bucky had gone to him recently, in light of everything going on. Still, it was a sign of Tony’s workmanship that it looked good as the day it was made.

“This is crazy, you know? This whole thing, your _war_ , it’s crazy,” he said.

Steph sighed and looked back down at her uniform. “Yeah. I know. But what else can I do? I can’t just go along with this idea of Tony’s. I can’t let the government do that.” She turned to look at him again. “You, of all people, should understand that.”

He looked away from the window again, and then moved over to her. He put his hands on her bare shoulders and leaned down to kiss the side of her head. “I know _why_ you’re doing this.” She felt the warmth of his right palm, and the cool metal of his left. “But you’re losing sight of what’s important, both you and Stark are. Hydra’s activities have increased by about three times since you two started this. They’re taking advantage of the fact you’re fighting each other.”

Steph groaned in frustration. She bowed her head even more and squeezed her hands into fists on the top of the dresser. “I _know_. This whole registration thing is getting in the way of us doing our damn jobs. I can’t just go out there and attack Hydra, not with Tony doing his best to stop me.”

“Even your allies are taking side and fighting each other.” Bucky’s hands slid down her arms. “You know you’re not alone, right? You don’t always have to bear the burden of the world.”

Steph sighed and turned in his arms so she could face him. “Yeah. But I’m the symbol. So is Tony. This isn’t just Steph Rogers and Tony Stark. This is Captain America and Iron Man. It goes beyond us as individual people, but affects us as heroes.” She looked into his face. “So yes, I have to bear this on my own, even if people like Sam help.”

“I could…” he started to say.

“No,” she cut him off before she even let him get the thought out. “No way.”

He frowned. “Why not?”

“Because it’s different for you. There’s only one reason Tony hasn’t dragged out your past in front of the public, and that’s because he’s saving it as an ace up his sleeve. I don’t want to put you in that kind of position. If you are seen supporting me, then he’ll reveal that to everyone. _And_ Tony created your arm.” Her fingers ran up the metal plates. “He probably has some way to shut it down.” She looked at him again. “Did you check for bugs?”

“Yes,” he said impatiently. “As soon as he put it on and I was back to myself. I learned how to take it apart and put it back together in case Stark couldn’t.”

“Still.” Steph shook her head. “You’re anonymous now. If that changes, they’ll try to lock you up. You know they will. Even though you weren’t in control of your actions.” He looked away. “And I can’t bear the thought of that. Or worse…” She turned his face back around to look at him. “I’m not losing you again.”

“You won’t,” he said. The conviction in his voice almost made her believe it.

She leaned up and kissed him softly. “So, please, stay out of this fight. Do what I can’t. Find Hydra. Stop them. I’ll send Sam in to help when I can.”

Bucky grunted in acknowledgement. “Still the Captain.”

Steph smiled, but it was tired. “Of course I am.” She leaned up to kiss him again, and then she extracted herself from his arms. She grabbed her uniform off the dresser and quickly pulled it on. She turned to face him and found he had likewise resuited. She picked her shield up and slid it onto her arm. “I’ll see you again. I promise.”

“You better,” he said. His eyes searched her face for a moment. “Be careful, Steph. Just… be careful.”

She nodded stiffly. “I will.” She moved to the window again, to head back into the night.

“I love you…” he said softly behind her.

She turned and smiled back at him. “I love you too. Don’t worry. I’m going to win this.” He didn’t argue with her, but he didn’t look convinced. And she didn’t stay long enough to say anything else. She went back out into the dark, and back into her civil war. The thought that popped into her head as she made her way down a back alley, and further away from her lover, was that maybe Ultron really had been right about her. Maybe she really did always need to be fighting a war...

 

**Author's Note:**

> I have spent the past month collecting and reading the Ed Brubaker Captain America comics, and the side stories that take place around them (ie: Civil War, Fallen Son, Reborn). They are pretty different from the MCU. I can't even manage how they're going to do Civil War in the MCU with the way it stands now. But I can't wait to find out! This idea wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to write it down. If you're familiar with the comics, yes I did rip dialogue straight out of the scene between Steve and Agent 13.
> 
> Also, I just rewatched Age of Ultron, hence the reference at the very end there.


End file.
